Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Fair Enough

Am I the only one NOT enamored by the Fair Isle sweater? They're acceptable, but I can't seem to get my heart-rate up about them. I have one in a trunk somewhere, but I don't have the motivation to dig it out. Even though they've been around for the better part of a century, I'm lukewarm at best.

Of course traditional is even worse, and more nebulous. Before cotton underwear and regular laundry, wool long underwear was traditional in Europe, and good riddance. Before knit socks, stiff linen foot wraps were all the rage. Before colors and patterns were cheaply reproducible by machines, and when the Shetland Islands (including Fair Isle) were a traditional brown-and-grey palette of drabness, a nice eye-catching sweater meant something different than it does now. Now, my neighbor walks her dog with a neon boa and a leopard print shawl. I don't need a fair isle sweater.

Personally, I am keeping my eye out for a vivid vintage sweater, but I'm thinking more those seventies striped ski sweaters. I don't know why, but the lines on them and the more fitted look are appealing to my eye again.

@JKG: I ski, but generally cross country with a rifle or bow slung across my shoulders. I just want the sweater for the look of it. And YWP isn't kidding about the telemark boots, got 'em at a flea market in Berlin, and had a Turkish tailor resole them for 30 deutsch marks (yep, it was that long ago). They're about as saturated a blue as dye can make leather, inevitably ruins a pair of socks. The soon-to-be-Mrs. won't let me wear them around town anymore, pity.

I have no special attachment to fair isle and intarsia knits, though I do enjoy them on occasion. I find them suitable for bringing color and interest to an otherwise simple shirt and tie combo. While I'm fond of the Polo vest, the Bean sweater is just a joke in itself.

I've been following your blog for almost a month now (if not slightly more) and I have come to enjoy your opinion on things.

As regards the L.L. Bean sweater, I think the particulars of the use of models itself merits a whole, separate discussion. I'd bet the sweater would have looked less uneasy and awkward (at least to me) had it not been worn by this person or anyone at all.

I had one from Woolrich a while back, I wore it once then sold it on eBay. Menswear suffers from the same cycles that the rest of fashion does, old things become "new", "reimagined" by obscure designers and praised like it was just invented.

I like the way these look on 1930s era TV shows like All Creatures Great and Small but like many things English they are a tad twee for American tastes.

That said, I did buy a couple pairs of these Fair Isle socks from J. Press on a slushy day in NYC. The socks I had were already soaked through so I put these on immediately in the car. They're the softest and warmest socks I've owned.